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Spring, 2009 Snow, Snow, Snow, and more Snow! That pretty much wraps up the description of what our 2008 maple syrup production season was all about! It was the first time in ten years that we had to wear snowshoes to tap our maple bush of 5,500 taps. Many days were spent shovelling the snow off the main lines in order for any sunlight to thaw the lines out so the sap could flow through. A bulldozer was hired to clear a path just so our tractor could make its’ way to the sap tanks in our woods. There were no ideal weather days in March and April for the sap to run; many days remained quite cool in March then the days warmed up too quickly in April. Despite the predictions of a great production year because of all of the snow, our production season was fair. When it was time to clean the pipeline in April 2008, we were still seeing snow! Patches of it throughout the woods as we were walking from tree to tree pulling out the spouts. We were pleased with our new back and front pans purchased last year. With both of these pans being designed to be more fuel efficient, we did notice our sap boiling faster than when boiling in our older pans. This resulted in less wood being thrown into the firebox and seeing maple syrup sooner! Anxious to make gallons upon gallons of maple syrup this upcoming spring and in the years to come, we are currently expanding into another area of our maple bush. Much work was done this past fall selectively harvesting trees for removal (turned into firewood), installing pipeline, and installing a second vacuum pump and dumping station for the sap to flow into. Another 200 taps were added for this upcoming season, with the goal of adding another 500 in the fall of 2009. In May of 2008, we introduced a new maple product in our store and at the local farmers’ markets we attend (Brockville and Lansdowne) – Maple Chipotle BBQ Sauce. It has been a real success so far; excellent with pork or chicken. Another product created with our friends at Just Wing It’ (same company who make the maple vinaigrette). The tasty maple chipotle BBQ sauce is now available in our store year round. We invite you to join us on one of the Saturdays for a delicious pancake breakfast at the church hall followed by a visit to our sugarhouse for a sweet treat of maple taffy on snow (free!). A traditional pot kettle will be boiling sap each Saturday as well. For those of you with children or grandchildren, you may want to visit on Saturday March 28th or Saturday April 4th as we are bringing in a special attraction on these two days – a petting zoo and pony rides ($3/ride)! For further information, please feel free to call us at 613-275-2893 or 1-877-440-7887 |
41 Leacock Road, RR 1
Frankville, Ontario
K0E 1H0
For more information:
Tel: 613-275-2893
Toll Free 1-877-440-7887
email: mail@gibbonsmaple.com
